The Serious Business Report

The Serious Business Report #6: Ulduar For Dummies

Your tank will turn Ignis away from the raid so that you don't all die to his Flame Jets. You have to stop casting when he's casting Flame Jets or you're going to get silenced. Move him out of the fire, and have your off-tanks take care of constructs, with a hard-hitter finishing them off when they go brittle. Heal whoever is in his crotch pot, and if you're a healer in there, heal yourself. Shoot Ignis in the butt until he dies.

XT-002 Deconstructor 25-man Strategy

The trash before this boss can be tricky. Try to have a Death Knight tank bring them over with Death and Decay laid down before a Hunter uses misdirect to pull. Group up for this trash, so that you don't get charged by one of the annoying mobs. You can stun, kite and CC this trash, so do it. Move them from out of the shields when they appear, and as long as you single target instead of AOE, you'll be fine.

XT-002 is simple, if you can tell the difference between light and dark.

Spread out. XT-002 herself is all about managing the light bomb and gravity bomb. If you have the light bomb, stay still and continue attacking, as you should be out of range of nearby allies. If you have the gravity bomb get away from the raid or you'll wipe it. Stay relatively close, though, so you can get healed during her tantrums. Hit the heart hard when it's exposed, and have your AOE kill the trash before they get to the boss. She'll go down without a problem.

Kologarn 25-man Strategy

Have your ranged and healers split up into two parallel lines facing the boss, one in front of the left arm, another in front of the right. When his eye beams appear, whomever the beam is tracking should move to the middle, between the two rows, and exit the room, keeping the rest of the raid from getting zapped. Take out the right arm whenever it's up, then hit the boss a bit while the tank generates threat. Now kill the trash, moving back to the boss. Shooting the arm does more damage to Kologarn than hitting him directly, and is necessary to free gripped players, who should be healed. This fight is great for ranged dps to go balls-out, as threat is a non-factor as long as someone is in melee range.

Iron Council 25-man Strategy

This is actually three different bosses. There's an achievement for killing them in different orders, but we've always killed Steelbreaker, then Runemaster Molgeim, and ending with Stormcaller Brundir. Steelbreaker hits hard, keep your tank up. When the blue runes appear on the ground, make sure to get your dps to stand in it for the damage buff while keeping Steelbreaker out of them.

When Runemaster Molgeim casts Rune of Death, get out of the green zone. Stand in it and you'll be justly ridiculed. The Stormcaller isn't tough, as long as you quickly identify who he's chasing when he takes to the air. The raid should avoid this player, and continue nuking him.

Hodir 25-man Strategy

This fight really comes down to moving like you're not a dummy. You'll want to avoid the small circles in the ground, which is just like Not Standing In Fire, which if you've read this guide is a skill you've already mastered. Once the three big circles appear, you should move close them to get ready to avoid flash freeze. Don't stand in them until you see the graphic for the falling ice. Move into the snowdrift after you see these crash down, as it's now a safe zone. You'll have about two seconds to make this move. Stand near the cozy fire for a damage boost when possible, and Hodir will go down.

[Gerald writes about games, plays World of Warcraft with his wife, and has a dog named Zelda. If that didn't scare you away, you can catch up with what's going on in his life through his personal Twitter.]